City Council gets design view of new Taunton City Hall

TAUNTON — The City Council got a sneak preview Tuesday night of what a rebuilt City Hall might look like. And the reaction was positive.

“I like the design,” said Councilor Estele Borges, after watching a PowerPoint presentation by Martha Werenfels, principal of Providence-based

DBVW Architects, formerly known as Durkee Brown Viveiros Werenfels.

“It’s a conceptual design,” advised Werenfels, who in response to a question noted that the projected cost of the project might be available before the end of the week.

Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. in April estimated the undertaking will cost around $20 million and will be paid for by issuing 20-year bonds.

After Tuesday’s weekly meeting adjourned, Building Department Superintendent Wayne Walkden, when asked if he could predict an estimated cost, said it would “probably be in the low twenties (millions of dollars).”

If that turns out to be accurate it will be in line with previous years’ estimates from the same architectural firm ranging from $15 million to $23 million.

Walkden also noted the entire project should take about 30 months — which will include demolition of both the main portion of the original building and the entire smaller, separate “annex” behind it that has housed city planning and conservation offices.

Other councilors, including council president Daniel Dermody, Jeanne Quinn and Gerald Croteau voiced approval.

“I think the architects have done a great job,” Quinn said, noting that she liked the inclusion of ample parking spots immediately adjacent the rear of the two-tier design.

“I’m very impressed,” said Croteau, who quickly added that he hopes the inside of the building will be afforded the same attention to detail in retaining its historic nature as that of the exterior.

The City Hall building downtown at 15 Summer St. has been closed since Aug. 17, 2010 after authorities say someone set a short-lived fire in its fourth-floor attic facing Church Green.

No one was ever arrested and charged in the arson — which led to closure of the building after firefighters poured water onto the smoky blaze, resulting in walls, ceilings and floors becoming saturated.

The late, former Mayor Charles Crowley at the time said he took the advice of insurance company experts in ordering that walls and ceilings be demolished to avoid the spread of potentially dangerous mold.

Governmental offices previously located in the building moved to, and continue to occupy, what was formerly Lowell M. Maxham School at 141 Oak St.

Werenfels said the redesign calls for retention of the building’s historic entrance but little else of what still remains standing.

She said the entire brick-and-wood rear portion, which encompasses roughly two-thirds of the structure, would be demolished and replaced with a new brick structure.

Prior to the 2010 fire, the rear section’s second floor was home to governmental offices, including that of the mayor, and also contained municipal council chambers.

That original building was constructed in 1848. City Hall’s granite-facade, front section was added in 1896 after additional floors in the rear had been built.

The new design calls for an attached, shorter structure — which will include municipal chambers and meeting rooms — connected via glass walkway to the large, taller main building.

Werenfels said there would also be an outside pedestrian plaza with trees and chairs.

When Councilor Deborah Carr asked why the rear would be rebuilt to retain its brick appearance, Werenfels said it “harkens back to what was there.”

Werenfels said there would be at least 60 dedicated rear-end parking spots with room for more to be added. Vehicular access, she said, would be off of Spring Street onto Allans Avenue, an unmarked lane that runs behind City Hall and Main Street all the way to Weir Street.

During the presentation, which was included as part of a public-property committee meeting, committee president A.J. Marshall noted that the Massachusetts Historical Commission stipulates retention of the building’s “skeletal” infrastructure.

Werenfels said the building’s two storage vaults would not be dismantled or removed.

“The building is actually framed into those vaults,” she said, adding that “other than that” everything else inside will be “all new.”

Werenfels said Talevi and Haesche LLC of West Brookfield has been hired to compile a cost estimate.

The city is still pursuing a combined $6 million lawsuit filed in 2012 against both its former insurance agent, Farrell Backlund Insurance Agency, and former insurance carrier, Axis Insurance Co.

The city is seeking $4.4 million in damages from Farrell Backlund for its alleged failure to provide adequate professional advice for policy coverage, that potentially could have netted the city at least twice the $4.8 million it collected as its insurance-claim settlement.

The city also has sought to recoup nearly $1.6 million from Axis, which is the amount it says the company improperly withheld from its $4.8 million payout — notwithstanding Axis’s claim that the city was at fault for missing a one-year deadline to provide all damage-assessment information related to the fire.